In the mens relay, the Austrian team thrilled the locals with a gold medal performance, almost a full minute ahead of Russia who settled for the silver. Germany came across the line for the bronze, just 12 seconds behind Russia.

The ETU Winter Triathlon European Championships kicked off on Saturday in Gaishorn am See, Austria.

In the elite womens race the question was if Sigrid Mutscheller would able to defend her title again and remain unbeaten. Carina Wasle was the best on the run from the very beginning as nobody was able to keep pace with her. She increased her lead lap by lap. Her lead was 1 minute, 30 seconds after the first discipline. Yulia Surikova from Russia came second with Mutscheller on her heels. The large audience expected Mutscheller to catch Wasle during the mountain bike leg but instead Wasle increased her lead by another 30 seconds and started the cross-country ski leg with an impressive two minute lead. Mutscheller came second, Surikova third and Anke Kullman from Germany fourth. After two laps of the eight lap cross-country ski course, it was more and more certain that Mutscheller would secure the win and halfway through the last leg she was already in the lead. The other German, Kullman passed Surikova and climbed onto the podium. Wasle finished second.

A big elite mens field started at 14:00 with several former champions in the field. Florian Holzinger tried to replicate what Wasle did in the womens race. He increased his lead on the run and began the bike leg with a lead of 40 seconds over the local favorite Heinz Planizer. The former champions included Daniel Antonioli from Italy, Andreas Svanebo from Sweden and Sigi Bauer from Austria but all were down by 90 seconds after the run. On the mountain bike section, the first and second athletes remained in the lead, but the chase group gained some ground them. Two Czech athletes, Tomas Dolezal and Pavel Jindra, joined this group with an outstanding bike performance. Holzinger hit the cross-country ski course followed by Planitzer from the same distance as after the run. Their lead was very impressive, but not for Svanebo, who performed one of the best ski segments and caught all his rivals one by one, lap by lap and was able to defend his European title. Holzinger was very happy with the second place and the locals were very elated for Planitzer finishing third.

In the junior division, the Austrians dominated both mens and womens fields. The races were in the toughest conditions with a mix of snow and rain. The air temperature was a chilly +2 degrees Celcius at this time of the day but the course was well prepared for the athletes.

We are very happy with the work of the Local Organising Committee and the Austrian Federation providing excellent facilities in spite of difficult weather conditions, said Gergely Markus, ETU Secretary General in Gaishorn am See. We are also grateful for those National Federations and individuals who made their way to Gaishorn and celebrate this wonderful sport of Winter Triathlon.Click here for information on the race